effective altruism

noun

: a movement and philosophy advocating philanthropy through projects, programs, and methods determined empirically to provide the greatest benefits

Effective altruism, which developed from ideas put forth by the philosopher Peter Singer in the early 1970s, argues that well-off people and societies are morally obligated to combat poverty, even far from home. It encourages a strict, utilitarian process for calculating how philanthropy can do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Insecticide-treated bed nets that protect against mosquito-borne malaria in remote regions on the other side of the world, for example, are far more "effective" when it comes saving lives than donations to a local food bank.

—Matthew Purdy

… effective altruism—or E.A.—a philanthropic movement premised on the use of reason and data to do good. … Earn a lot to give a lot. Direct your bounty to where it will matter the most.

—Jennifer Szalai

For billionaires who made their money by crunching numbers, effective altruism extends that into the way they give away their money, too. It is a data-loving engineer's mode of do-gooding, for the first generation of ultra wealth created by engineers. It's an approach that can give people moral permission to keep amassing more wealth—as long as they give some of it away.

—Emma Goldberg

They learn that their money will always go much further overseas: that a very small amount of money for an American can be life-saving to someone who is desperately poor. In other words, they learn about the tenets of effective altruism: how to evaluate organizations for transparency and benefits, and figure out which forms of aid are the most cost-effective.

—Christine Gross-Loh

—abbreviation EA

effective altruist noun

plural effective altruists

Effective altruists often advocate utilitarianism, according to which we should promote the greatest net balance of benefits over harms, by any means necessary. In other words, we are justified in harming some … if the harms are outweighed by benefits to others.

—Kieran Setiya

Word History

First Known Use

2013, in the meaning defined above